SpecialK

Before I had my psych eval, cardiac and sleep clearances and nailed down I had my first appointment with the surgeon so I think that is what they are trying to schedule you for with Dr. Choban. That is exciting that you don't have to go through the insurance approval hoops but only what Dr. Choban requires so she can approve you not having to potentially do the others if she feels its okay. If not, it could be possible it will take a month or more to get to the appt with Dr. Choban so I'd go ahead and be working the psych eval and sleep clearance things in the meantime, particularly the psych eval because I am guessing they won't let you hop past that clearance because they want to be sure we really are emotionally and mentally equipped and ready for this decision. If you can convince them you are not a person who snores at all, you might get past the sleep clearance. If you do have a snoring problem, you probably will have to do the sleep clearance. When I did my sleep study, I had a pre-study appt with the dr., then the 1st night's sleep evaluation overnight, then 2 weeks, then the 2nd night's sleep evaluation with me on my CPAP machine so I think 4-6 weeks elapsed on that in total. I was guessing your name is Lynn from your user name. Welcome!

Juli - you are a real testimony to the positive things one year later in losing weight has done if you are going to be able to do the Columbus to Portsmouth - TOSRV bike trip. That is heavy duty. Can't even imagine how many calories that will burn. Have a blast! and stay safe.

Miki - based on the small amount you say you are eating before hitting fullness/restriction, keep an eye on your protein grams and supplement with a protein shake to keep up your nutrition and do the multi-vitamin thing too.

For the Shrinking Shamrocks bandsters -- I got my 2nd fill appt scheduled for June 10th just 3 days before I head to Florida for a week of vacation but I think it will be fine because I tolerated this first fill just fine and I think 3 days is enough to see if I'm having any trouble with restriction. It will keep me on the straight and narrow while I am on vacation so I am okay with that. I get my first appointment with Dr. Miller now as my follow up physician for June 24 after I come home from vacation so that should be good for me to be able to tell him how I'm doing with the 2nd fill. I am surprised to again find the scale going down some each day following this first fill and that I'm again able to stay in the 800+ calorie range these days after being very hungry trying to stay at 1200-1400 calories right before my fill on April 29. Amazing tool here! Work it Baby!!! LOL

Congratulations Call Me Joy! Approval is the biggest hurdle. You should be hearing about a surgery date soon. Be prepared that they could call you and give you as little as one week or maybe 2 weeks to go for surgery. The pre-op admission testing day is about a week ahead of that. You go that morning for pre-op admission testing and they do an x-ray, draw bloodwork, then you go for bariatric surgery class with Melissa, then a nutrition class with the nutritionist (Andrea I think her name is), then they take you to a different floor where you get into a gown and they weigh you, do an EKG, blood gasses (another blood test), then finish you off with a physical by a hospital staff doctor. I was surprised that the process took maybe about 4 hours that day. Here's a heads up- go early enough that you get the x-ray and bloodwork drawn done early (you have to be fasting) then you can go to the Tim Hortons and get coffee and a bagel or something to eat, before going to the 2 classes and the other testing. On waiting for your sister... humm.... I can kind of see waiting and kind of not waiting... If they offered me a surgery date in May and I was ready to go but she doesn't have her approval from Medicare, I'd go ahead and get my surgery. If she gets her approval before they give you a surgery date, then maybe I'd wait to synch up but I was chomping at the bit to get banded as soon as possible to so I could start losing. Pre-op diet -- Dr. Choban and Dr. Price didn't make us do pre-op diet but I did voluntarily on my own and lost about 6-8 lbs by doing 2 Protein shake meals and 1 meal with lean meat and veggies only, sugar free popsicles for treats. So, other than the night before surgery, nothing to eat after midnight that night, not even Water or ice chips, you don't have to do a pre-op diet. Now, some of us, me included had one last fling or "Last Supper" or "Farewell to Food" meal the weekend before our surgery on Monday -- I chose to do mine on Friday p.m. (PIZZA) so that it had more than a good chance to be digested and out of my system by Monday a.m. surgery time (actually I had a 1pm surgery time). I have heard of folks having some huge meal on Sunday evening as their last meal and then think they are good for after midnight to fast for Monday surgery but I really think some of that food is still moving through your digestive tract so just to be safe if you're going to have a splurge I'd do it Friday or Saturday for a Monday surgery date or something similar.

For newbies in Ohio - go to the USA Local Support Groups thread section, then pick Ohio from that list, then you'll see different discussion threads about folks from Riverside, OSU, Mt. Carmel, the local meetings we've begun - next is coming up May 10 at Polaris - and we've also got a Yahoo Lapband group we can hook you into for Central Ohio. Hope to see you post over on the Ohio section.

I use Splenda Brown Sugar Blend in moderate quantities and I'm fine but I do count it in my daily calories to keep me honest. Lap Band patients should NOT have any dumping or diarrhea or other unpleasant side effects from sugar like gastric bypass patients but nonetheless, too much sugar = less than desired weight loss. That's enough to keep me in check.

Our doctors and the fill nurse do the first fill with fluroscopy and I think it gives us a sense of peace about them finding the port as quickly and painlessly as they can on the first time. About them not needing fluroscopy/ultrasound to find a port due to it being an inch below the skin....well some of us have more fat than others, and they do have trouble finding some ports because they are deeper below the skin than maybe someone with less fat in the abdominal area. Can't wait until I can poke around on my own belly and feel my port but for now, I cannot feel it. On bruising, I have heard some people just take longer for bruising to go way. I wouldn't worry about that one.

I guess I can only edit a post for so long or maybe I hit the maximum post size so here goes Part 2 by request of those who want to keep being counted. 248. TGC - March 20 249 Andrea1 - March 4 250. Shaunni78 - March 10 251. Hazel-eyes - March 14 252. Shoop3010 - March 25 253. JulieC - March 25 254. Boadicea - March 18 255. Tess415 - March10 256. Dosh - March 25 257. Dewl - March 21 - Rest6n, VA 258. Needtolose - March 11 259. Irhishere - March 20

Yes me too on the yo-yo things for diet/weight loss and particularly the folks at work being afraid to say "gee you are looking good". It will have to be more dramatic before they say something probably. My church friends who know about my lapband give me positive kudos each week about how they can see the changes from week to week.

This made me smile -- same problem so I always have the dental hygenist give me a small paper cup to spit in and then dump the cup. Now, the dentist I go to now has these totally comfortable exam chairs that are big enough for plus size folks like us. One dentist I went to was afraid I was going to tip the chair over when he had me reclined way back working on me... talk about embarrassing and of course the chair was narrow and pinched on my hips too.. Thank goodness for today's more modern dentist office settings.

On the First fill amount, yep, even at our hospital on the same day with the same size band, some people got 2.5 cc's and others got 4.5cc's so just trust your doctor who can tell what is best for you.

Thanks Sarah. I think this Fill is helping. Down about 2 lbs since getting it!

This is another example of doctors and hospitals varying on what the heck they do. Ours says Clear/Full liquids for 1 day, then pureed/mushie, then soft foods, etc. Wow - you got to eat a string cheese stick on the same day. I just had 1/4-1/2 cup of low fat ricotta cheese with about 1/2 cup of spaghetti sauce mixed in and spices (oregano, garlic, salt/pepper) and it was pretty thin consistency and tasted so good after 24 hours of liquids again.

Wanted to give you some hope that this week there were I think 3 or 4 of us going in for our first fill's this past Tuesday and we all got about 4.5cc's in our bands that hold 14. So cross your fingers to get the same. Best of luck. I know its hard hanging in there for that first fill.

BrandNewLisa - I was getting worried about ya! Hadn't see a post and was hoping things were okay so glad you checked in and used us as a shoulder to cry on -- we're here for you. I had my fill this week. You'll do great once you get yours too. I was hungry enough to eat whatever but I was really trying hard to keep it under control.

Thanks Niki and Heather - I definitely am happy with progress at 18 lbs in 6 weeks or about 3 lbs a week. It may have just been my perception from nervousness that I had heard others saying they've lost 30 lbs and 40 lbs and I wish I could say that. Plus, I think Melissa does see alot of the gastric bypass patients who easily drop 40-50 lbs in 6 weeks so I just need to remember this isn't a race...I'm so competitive :thumbup: P.S. It took me 18 Months to lose about 15 lbs on WW so I'm thrilled for this tool to be working.

I'll post the one they took before the fill with and without the arrows to help you orient what you are looking at and then a third picture post Fill where you can see the barium has emptied down into the intestinal tract. The band is tilted on a 45 degree angle just as it should be. Thanks Dr. Price!

I have to tell you I think Melissa was a little disappointed with my loss of about 18 lbs from surgery day to yesterday but I didn't remind her that I had voluntarily done pre-op liquid diet and lost about 8 more lbs and by my scale I'm at about 28 total so I'm fine with that and my primary care doc was thrilled with what I lost. I did mention to Melissa I had knee surgery in the middle of this first 6 weeks and thought that could have affected things plus the last 2 weeks had been really hard to stay low on calories. I'm like Greg where I could just get up this a.m. and have coffee for my first hour or two, I had a protein shake at about 10 or so and now I'm wanting something else. I'm on my way to our cafeteria to see if they have some soup that will work for me. Last night I just had my Unjury chicken soup (broth) and was fine.

I got banded March 17 and have an AP-L band and got my first fill today of 4.5cc's in a band that holds 14 total. They said I can schedule my 2nd Fill for 6 weeks from today.

Yes I agree with KTBugg - the fill process is pretty painless and quick once they get you into the xray room where the fluroscopy machine is. I asked if I could take a picture of my band placement and the technician said Sure! so I'll get it uploaded off my camera and share. Melissa is really sweet and does a great job working with you so anyone who hasn't been through this yet should be fine. They started my fill with me standing up behind the fluroscopy screen and when she didn't hit my port at that point, they tilted the fluroscopy/x-ray table to have me lying down and she hit the port very quickly at that point. Then they stood me back up while Melissa actually did the fill. Had me take sips of barium while she watched how it went down. Once she thought she had a good restriction level. She said All Done! They handed me a small cup of maybe 8 oz of water to drink right there and see if I was holding that down. No problems at all. I left and went back to work and nobody here in the office is any the wiser I had something done over lunch...so yes, you can keep this quiet if you want. I'll be anxious to hear how GregW, NurseNiki and others who also got done today think. I had visions of the fill needle being 5-8" to get down through the layers of skin, fat and things to get where the port is but it was only about 3" long and I didn't think it felt like much of a stick at all. I found out I have a APL (large AP) band and they put in 4.5 cc's in a band that holds 14 total. I am anxious to see how this will work. I'm doing liquids today as instructed and doing fine hunger-wise.:w00t: We found 2 more Shrinking Shamrocks for Mt. Carmel sitting in the Testing Center waiting room and gave them the lapbandtalk.com web info to join in and get information. I hope we'll see them chime in.

I saw my PCP doc yesterday and she was thrilled with my 25 lb loss so far and asked lots of questions as I am her first patient to ever have lap band surgery. She even made herself a side note right while I was there to do more research on lap band to get more up to speed on the procedure. Anyway, I asked if I could get off my Cholesterol medicine (Zocor) and she said YES!! she said let's take a baseline blood check today and then I'll see you in 3 months so we can see how you are doing. :coolgleamA::tt1::cool2:

I saw my PCP yesterday and said I'm eating healthy and exercising much more than ever and asked if she didn't think I could give up the Cholesterol medicine and she said YES! let's take a baseline blood check today and I'll see you in three months. Yea! P.S. Plus she is thrilled with my 25 lbs loss progress - I'm her first patient to ever have lap band surgery so she took alot of time to ask me questions to learn about the process and even made herself a note to go and do some research to get more up to speed on it. Yea!!!

Here here! I can't wait until Tuesday. I'm thinking about taking my camera so I can get a picture of what it looks like to get a fill... if they will let me. I'll play it by ear and see how it goes. Was wondering for the Feb/March bandster buddies if you've encountered any food at all before your first fill that you couldn't get down or had trouble with? I haven't but I have not done anything 'stupid' either like eat something obviously doughy or stringy. I do recommend the cedar planked grilled tilapia at O'Charley's - had that last night and 1/2 of my dinner salad and a few bites of my baked potato and that was really satisfying and the fish is lean and has lots of Protein. I'll definitely try that again when I think I could handle it with restriction. Seebs -- yes, I got over the idea of just leaving the rest of the fish and salad and having them take it away to throw it away because I knew I'd enjoyed what I had and the leftovers wouldn't be good. That is a NSV for me. Greg - yep, not gaining but losing has slowed to a crawl so I am totally with you on bring on the saline!

WOW! impressive list of Vitamins -- do you have super powers once you down all those! Just kidding. Have a great day.